Post-doctoral position in collaboration with Hort Innovation Australia
Understand the role of root:shoot balance for landscape trees
Evaluate the national standard for growing landscape trees
Year-long campaign to measure key traits for trees tagged as ’ready to sell"
23 nurseries across Australian climate regions
14,000 trees surveyed nation-wide
18-3000 liter containerized trees tested
150 species measured
Outcomes: Delivered data-driven suggestions for better criteria to test Australian tree stock sold for landscape plantings
Current standards to restrictive
Trees are too often rejected
NEW national standard adopted
Experience in tree physiology
Research career has explored how plants make food (photosynthesis) across multiple themes
global change (Eucalyptus)
evolution (Ferns)
stress (Common Milkweed)
Integrated plant hydraulics (water supply and transport) into recent research
The urban environment makes all these processes harder for trees!!!
Why urban trees matter
Healthy trees are integral to sustainable urban landscapes now and in the future.
Never before have trees received the current level of attention as key component of sustainable urban design, delivering substantial benefits to ever growing cities.
Services = cooling, storm water mitigation, carbon sequestration, improving air quality, biodiversity and property value
make cities more liveable
Why physiology matters for urban trees
The urban enivronment is an ecophysiological challenge
Informative sources for managing urban trees are numerous
planting guides
maintenance plans
species choice
None are directly related to tree physiology!!
mostly symptom based
Shouldn’t we first understand how trees must alter their physiology to these stresses?
nursery → site planting → recovery → establishment and growth
Charles Town as a research site for novel urban tree research
Models predict West Virginia could increase by 3 °F in winter, spring, and summer & 4 °F in fall by 2100
new stresses for animals and plants
More trees is an obvious local health benefit
There is an important knowledge gap
PLAN: Track and monitor aspects of physiology from nursery to establishment for newly planted urban trees in Chalestown, WV